Operation supporting apparatus

ABSTRACT

In response to a voice request from a facility judgment means which judges the location of such a facility from the current position selected in advance based on the current position and map data, the voice guidance generated by guidance synchronizing means is converted by stereophonic or three dimensional signal processing means into a stereophonic or three dimensional sound field signal, and outputted to at least two or more speakers which generate a stereophonic or three dimensional sound field reproducing space corresponding to the left and right external ears of a listener. The distance to, and the direction of, the facility that has been selected in advance are informed by the movement of an image of a stereophonic or three dimensional sound with rich presence.

This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. §372. of PCTInternational Application No. PCT/JP01/04464 which has an Internationalfiling date of May 28, 2001, which designated the United States ofAmerica.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a driving support apparatus in which, when afacility selected by a driver has appeared within a range of apredetermined distance in front of, and in the left or right directionof, his/her own vehicle position, the direction of, and the distance to,the facility are informed by the movement of an image of a stereophonicor three dimensional sound.

BACKGROUND ART

In the case of a vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus, it is possible todisplay facilities standing around one's own vehicle on a mapirrespective of whether navigation is being done or not. In addition,the facilities are displayable for each genre covering from a publicfacility to a gas station, each being often represented by a symbolicicon.

Depending on the place and genre, a many facilities are, however,aggregated densely and icons are displayed overlapped, with the resultthat the driver can hardly recognize them. The same things will beoccurred depending on the scale of the selected map. It falls under thecase where the facilities such as eating houses, or the like, areselected. In such a case, the driver unconsciously must stare at thedisplay screen for recognition, which hinders the safety driving.

This invention has been made in order to solve the above problems andhas an object of providing a driving support apparatus which informs thedriver of a direction of, and the distance to, the facility by means ofa stereophonic or three dimensional sound.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The driving support apparatus according to this invention includesfacility judging means for judging a location, from a current position,of a facility selected in advance, based on the current position and mapdata; guidance synchronizing means for giving voice guidance bygenerating voice data when a result of judgement by the facility judgingmeans contains a voice request; voice guidance means for callingstereophonic or three dimensional sound field generation based on thevoice guidance generated by the guidance synchronizing means;stereophonic or three dimensional signal processing means for outputtinga volume signal based on a call of voice guidance from the voiceguidance means after converting the volume signal to a stereophonic orthree dimensional sound field signal; and at least respectively twospeakers for generating stereophonic or three dimensional sound fieldreproduction space corresponding to left and right outer ears of alistener upon receipt of the stereophonic or three dimensional soundfield signal.

According to this arrangement, it is possible to inform the listener ofthe distance from the current position to, and the direction of, thefacility that has been selected in advance by the movement of the imageof the stereophonic or three dimensional sound. The listener is thusable to keep on driving while looking ahead without turning his/her eyesonto the map on the display. This facilitates the confirmation of thefacility and contributes to the safety driving.

The facility judging means of the driving support apparatus according tothis invention includes current position estimating means for estimatingthe current position; facility information extracting means for readingfacility information selected in advance from data base having storedtherein facility information; and leading means for searching a routefrom the current position to the facility by inputting the currentposition, the map data and the selected facility information.

According to this arrangement, if the facility standing on one of theleft lane and the right lane depending on the running lane, e.g., on theleft lane in Japan, is exclusively selected, it is not necessary to makea U-turn or a right-turn if the guidance is made on the facility that isbeing looked for, which ensures the safety driving. This is particularlyeffective on a road having a median strip or a plurality of lanes.

The driving support apparatus according to this invention furtherincludes painting means for painting on display means based on a paintrequest from the guidance synchronizing means.

According to this arrangement, it becomes possible to display thefacility that has been selected in advance on the route searching of themap. Together with the voice indication, this facilitates theconfirmation of the location of the facility.

In the driving support apparatus according to this invention the voiceguidance means includes a volume profile for outputting a volumecorresponding to the voice data.

According to this arrangement, the stereophonic or three dimensionalsignal processing means can input a volume corresponding to the voicedata, thereby facilitating the signal conversion processing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the state of arrangement of speakersto reproduce the stereophonic or three dimensional sound.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a driving supportapparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart explaining the operation of leading means.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart explaining the operation of guidancesynchronizing means.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart explaining the operation of voice guidance means.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart explaining the operation of a stereophonic orthree dimensional signal processing means.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In order to explain this invention in more detail, a description willnow be made about the best mode for carrying out this invention withreference to the accompanying drawings.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing showing an arrangement of speakers in adriving support apparatus in the first embodiment. Here, let us supposethree speakers 3L1, 3L2, 3L3 and 3R1, 3R2, 3R3 to be respectivelydisposed near each of the ears 2L, 2R of a listener 1 and the soundfields near the external ears to be stereophonic or three dimensionalsound fields by means of signals supplied to each of the speakers.

In FIG. 1, three speakers 3L1, 3L2, 3L3 and 3R1, 3R2, 3R3 arerespectively disposed for each of the left external ear and the rightexternal ear. The reason why this kind of arrangement is preferable isgiven below. In this case the control points (points in the space atwhich a target state of sound waves is reproduced) are three points nearthe respective external ears.

First Reason

It is possible to produce at the control points the same sound pressureas in the case of the original sound field. In order to realize it, atransfer function (an impulse response as represented by a time domain)is required from the speakers 3L1, 3L2, 3L3 and 3R1, 3R2, 3R3 to thecontrol points.

The shorter the time of this transfer function becomes, the smaller thescale of the hardware for the signal processing becomes. Therefore, thearrangement of the speakers should be selected so as to shorten the timeas much as possible. In an ordinary room or a vehicle compartment, ithas a tendency that the shorter the distance between the speakers andthe control points becomes, the shorter the time of the transferfunction becomes.

It is because that the more the speakers and the control points awayfrom each other, the larger the ratio of the reflected sounds, arrivedat the control points from all directions of the room or the vehiclecompartment becomes as compared with the direct sounds arrived at thecontrol points directly from the speakers. Conversely, in case thedistance between the speakers and the control points is small the ratioof the direct sounds arrived at the control points directly from thespeakers becomes large as compared with the reflected sounds inside theroom. The amplitudes of the transfer function will thus be occupied forthe most part by the direct sounds, and the amplitude component of thereflected sounds becomes extremely small as compared with the directsounds. For this reason, the time of the transfer function can beregarded as the time during which the direct sounds converge.

Second Reason

Since the head of the listener is in a space between the speakers whichare respectively disposed in the left and right, the speakers can bedisposed close to his/her external ears, thereby reducing the ratio ofcrosstalk occurred between the ears. The closer the right speakers arebrought to the right ear, the larger the ratio between the soundsbecomes that directly come into the right ear and the sounds that leakto the opposite left ear, thereby decreasing crosstalk.

If the amount of crosstalk occurred between the left and right is small,it will become possible to independently perform the signal processingof the left and right sound fields at the time of controlling the soundfields O near the external ears. The greatest advantage thereof is inthat the amount of computation is alleviated down to ½. The signalprocessing performed in the stereophonic or three dimensional soundfield reproducing apparatus is proportional to the product of the numberof the speakers and that of the control points.

Now, suppose that the number of the speakers is respectively N in theleft and the right and that the number of the control points is alsorespectively N in the left and the right. In case the amount ofcrosstalk is small and the left and right signal processing can beindependently performed, the amount of computation is N×N for each earand 2×(N×N) for both the left and right ears. On the other hand, in casethe amount of crosstalk is large, it is necessary to process the leftand right signals together, and the amount of computation is 2N×2N,i.e., 4×(N×N). In case there is no crosstalk, the amount of computationgoes down to ½.

The driving support apparatus of this invention does not necessarilycoerce the number of the speakers in the left and right to be limited tothree, respectively. Theoretically, since the control points increase incorrespondence with the number of the speakers, the larger the number ofthe speakers becomes, the more the original sound field is accuratelysimulated. However, since the amount of signal processing isproportional to the second power of the number of the speakers, theapparatus having an unreasonably large number of speakers is notpractical considering the number of the channels and the capacity ofcomputation processing in an ordinary audio device.

When considered from the viewpoint of simulation accuracy, on the otherhand, disposing one speaker on the left and right side respectivelyshows little or no difference from the conventional headphone system.Therefore, the reasonable choice will be at least two speakers or morefor each ear. This method using two speakers for each ear is, however,insufficient in accuracy because the sound field can only be reproducedalong the line connecting the two control points.

In case three speakers are used for each ear, the sound field can bereproduced within the region of a triangle formed by connecting thethree control points. In this case, it is possible to reproduce even thetravelling direction of the sound wave inside the region as a result ofreproduction of the sound pressure at the control points. In order toperceive the stereophonic (three dimensional) sound field, it is highlyimportant that the travelling direction of the sound wave is reproduced.Considering even the direction of propagation of the sound wave expectsto highly accurate reproduction of the sound field and the number of thespeakers which does not amount to a large scale for practical use willbe respectively three in the left and right, i.e., six in total. Thisnumber might be said to be the basic level in effectuating thisinvention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the driving supportapparatus which is provided with the speakers devised based on theabove-described principle.

Reference numeral 11 denotes current position estimating means whichestimates the current position by receiving a signal from a globalpositioning system (GPS). Reference numeral 12 denotes a data base whichstores therein map data, data on the shapes of intersections, or thelike. Reference numeral 13 denotes a data base which stores therein thefacility information. Reference numeral 14 denotes facility informationextracting means which extracts the facility information from the database 13. Reference numeral 15 denotes leading means which searches for aroute from the current position to the facility by inputting the currentposition outputted from the current position estimating means 11, themap data read out from the data base 12, and the facility informationsupplied from the facility information extracting means 14. Referencenumeral 16 denotes guidance synchronizing means which calls paint andvoice guidance by making a judgment of a paint request and a voicerequest based on the output of the current position estimating means 11and the leading means 15. Reference numeral 17 denotes painting meanswhich paints on the display means 18 based on the call for paint fromthe guidance synchronizing means 16. Reference numeral 19 denotes voiceguidance means which outputs a volume signal based on the call for voiceguidance from the guidance synchronizing means 16. Reference numeral 20denotes stereophonic or three dimensional signal processing means whichsupplies a stereophonic or three dimensional sound field generatingsignal to the above-described speakers 3L1, 3L2, 3L3 and 3R1, 3R2, 3R3based on the output from the current position estimating means 11 andthe voice guidance means 19. The above-described current positionestimating means 11, the data base 12, the facility information database 13, the facility information extracting means 14 and the leadingmeans 15 constitute a facility judging means.

The operation of the driving support apparatus of the first embodimentwill now be described.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart explaining the operation of the leading means 15.First, when the operation of the leading means 15 is started, thecurrent position is obtained from the current position estimating means11 (step ST1). A judgement is made on the navigation point area based onthe map data which are read out from the data base 12 (step ST2), and onthe facility area based on the output signal from the facilityinformation extracting means 14 (step ST3).

Then, a decision is made as to whether the judgement is OK or not (stepST8). If yes, the leading data extraction for the route searching (stepST4), the facility information addition to the searched route (stepST5), the guidance information generation (step ST6), and the guidancesynchronization call (step ST7) are successively performed. Otherwise,the operation is finished.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart explaining the operation of the guidancesynchronizing means 16. When the operation of the guidance synchronizingmeans 16 is started, the current position is obtained from the currentposition estimating means 11 (step ST11), and acquisition of theguidance information outputted from the leading means 15 (step T12), thejudgement of the paint update (step ST13), and the judgement of voiceguidance (step ST14) are successively performed.

Thereafter, a decision is made as to whether there is a request forpaint or not (step ST15). If yes, after making a call for paint (stepST16), paint is done on the display means 18. Otherwise, the processproceeds to a decision as to whether there is a voice request. If YES(step ST17), the voice data attribute and content are generated (stepST18) and thereafter, a call for voice guidance is made (step ST19).Otherwise, the operation is finished.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart explaining the operation of the voice guidancemeans 19. When the operation of the voice guidance means 19 is started,volume profile is obtained from a memory 19 a provided in the voiceguidance means 19 (step ST21). Then, the voice data attribute andcontent are obtained from the guidance synchronizing means 16 (stepST22), and the call is successively made for the stereophonic or threedimensional sound field generation at a volume corresponding to thevoice data attribute and content (step ST23), and then the operation isfinished.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart explaining the operation of the stereophonic orthree dimensional signal processing means 20. When the operation of thestereophonic or three dimensional signal processing means 20 is started,the current position is obtained from the current position estimatingmeans 8 (step ST31). Based on the call of the stereophonic or threedimensional sound field from the voice guidance means 19, the generationof audio space allocating information (step ST32), and subsequently thegeneration of stereophonic or three dimensional voice information (stepST33) are performed. This stereophonic or three dimensional voiceinformation is supplied to the speakers 3L1, 3L2, 3L3 and 3R1, 3R2, 3R3and an approach is made to the facility that has been selected inadvance along the searched route.

When it is recognized from the map data that the facility is within apredetermined distance, e.g., within 100 meters, the distance to, andthe direction of, the facility are informed by the movement of the imageof the stereophonic or three dimensional sound.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, when one's ownvehicle approaches within a predetermined distance of the facility thathas been selected in advance, the distance to, and the direction of, thefacility are informed by the movement of the image of the stereophonicor three dimensional sound. The driver can therefore keep on drivingwhile looking forward without turning his/her eyes onto the displayscreen of the display means. This facilitates the confirmation of thefacility and also contributes to the safety driving.

In other words, while one is driving a vehicle, there often occurs thenecessity that he/she must have a meal or feed the vehicle with oil. Insuch a case, the driver may wish to select the kind of food or todesignate such a gas station run by a gasoline manufacturer as he/sheordinary uses. Then, such a facility is ordinarily represented by asimple icon on the map which is displayed on the display screen of thenavigation apparatus. However, in order to look at the display screen,less attention is likely to be paid to the confirmation of the front ofthe vehicle.

According to this first embodiment, it is possible to inform thelocation and the direction of the facility by the movement of positionof the image in the stereophonic or three dimensional sound. Therefore,the driver is freed from the action of turning his/her eyes from thefront of the vehicle to the display screen of the navigation apparatusinside the vehicle, which contributes to the safety driving.

In addition, if the facility standing along one of the left and rightlanes depending on the running lane, e.g., only along the left lane inJapan, is exclusively selected, there is no need of making a U-turn or aright-turn when the facility that is being looked for has found, whichcontributes to the safety driving. This is particularly effective in theroad having a median strip or a plurality of running lanes.

Industrial Applicability

As described above, the driving support apparatus is suitable forinforming the driver, by the movement of the stereophonic or threedimensional image with rich presence, of the distance to, and thedirection of, a facility which has been selected in advance when thevehicle comes within a predetermined distance of the facility.

What is claimed is:
 1. A driving support apparatus comprising: facilityjudging means for judging a location, from a current position, of afacility selected in advance based on the current position and map data;guidance synchronization means for giving voice guidance by generatingvoice data when a result of judgment by said facility judging meanscontains a voice request; voice guidance means for calling stereophonicor three dimensional sound field generation based on the voice guidancegenerated by said guidance synchronizing means; stereophonic or threedimensional signal processing means for outputting a volume signal basedon a call of voice guidance from said voice guidance means afterconverting the volume signal to a stereophonic or three dimension soundfield signal; and at least respectively two speakers for generatingstereophonic or three dimensional sound field reproduction spacecorresponding to left and right outer ears of a listener upon receipt ofsaid stereophonic or three dimensional sound field signal, said speakersoutputting a moving sound corresponding to the directional movement ofsaid listener that indicates to said listener the direction and locationof the facility located within a predetermined distance of the listener.2. The driving support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein saidfacility judging means comprises: current position estimating means forestimating the current position; facility information extracting meansfor reading facility information selected in advance from data basehaving stored therein facility information; and leading means forsearching a route from the current position to the facility by inputtingthe current position, the map data and the selected facilityinformation.
 3. The driving support apparatus according to claim 1,further comprising painting means for painting on display means based ona paint request from said guidance synchronizing means.
 4. The drivingsupport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said voice guidancemeans comprises a volume profile for outputting a volume correspondingto the voice data.
 5. A vehicular navigation system, comprising: meansfor determining the current location of a vehicle with respect to thelocation of a selected facility, and for determining when the vehicle iswithin a predetermined distance of the facility; and means for providingsounds to a listener, responsive to said determining means, said soundproviding means including a stereophonic or three dimensional audiosystem having a plurality of speakers surrounding the listener; whereinsaid speakers output moving sound to the listener indicating that thevehicle is within the predetermined distance of the facility, and saidmoving sound corresponding to the directional movement of the vehiclewith respect to the facility, such that the moving sound provides thelistener with an audio indication of the location of the vehicle withrespect to the selected facility.
 6. A vehicular navigation system,according to claim 5 wherein the moving sound indicates to the listenerthat the selected facility is located either to left or right of thevehicle.
 7. A vehicular navigation system, according to claim 6 whereinthe moving sound indicates to the listener that the selected facility islocated either to the front or rear of the vehicle.
 8. A vehicularnavigation system, according to claim 7 which further includes means forproviding a visual indication of the location of the selected facility.9. A method of operating a vehicular navigation system, comprising thesteps of: determining the current location of a vehicle with respect tothe location of a selected facility, and determining when the vehicle iswithin a predetermined distance of the facility; and providing sounds toa listener, responsive to said determining means, said sounds beingeither stereophonic or three dimensional sounds emitted from a pluralityof speakers surrounding the listener; wherein said sound moves withrespect to the listener indicating when the vehicle is within thepredetermined distance of the facility, and said moving soundcorresponding to the directional movement of the vehicle with respect tothe facility, such that the moving sound provides the listener with anaudio indication of the location of the vehicle with respect to theselected facility.
 10. A method, according to claim 5 wherein the movingsound indicates to the listener that the selected facility is locatedeither to left or right of the vehicle.
 11. A method, according to claim6 wherein the moving sound indicates to the listener that the selectedfacility is located either to the front or rear of the vehicle.
 12. Amethod, according to claim 7 which further includes providing a visualindication of the location of the selected facility.
 13. A vehicularnavigation system, comprising: at least one database for storinglocation information including facility location; a device forestimating the current location of a vehicle; a processor, coupled tothe database and the device for estimating current locations, fordetermining the current location of a vehicle with respect to thelocation of a selected facility, and for determining when the vehicle iswithin a predetermined distance of the facility; and an audio system forproviding sounds to a listener, responsive to said determining means,said audio system including a stereophonic or three dimensional speakersystem having a plurality of speakers surrounding the listener; whereinsaid speakers output moving sound to the listener indicating that thevehicle is within the predetermined distance of the facility, and saidmoving sound corresponding to the directional movement of the vehiclewith respect to the facility, such that the moving sound provides thelistener with an audio indication of the location of the vehicle withrespect to the selected facility.
 14. A vehicular navigation system,according to claim 13 wherein the moving sound indicates to the listenerthat the selected facility is located either to left or right of thevehicle.
 15. A vehicular navigation system, according to claim 14wherein the moving sound indicates to the listener that the selectedfacility is located either to the front or rear of the vehicle.
 16. Avehicular navigation system, according to claim 15 which furtherincludes a display for providing a visual indication of the location ofthe selected facility.